Dr. Regina Benjamin is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. After Benjamin received her medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she returned to her Gulf Coast hometown, Bayou la Batre, and opened a small rural health clinic; for 13 years, she was the town’s only doctor. In 1995, at the age of 39, Benjamin became the first black woman, and the first person under the age of 40, to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees, and in 2002, she became the first black female president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. She was chosen “Person of the Week” by ABC World News Tonight, and “Woman of the Year” by both CBS This Morning and People Magazine. Benjamin won a $500,000 MacArthur “genius” award in 2008.
George Robert Carruthers is an African-American inventor, physicist, and space scientist. This astrophysicist was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his contributions to aeronautical engineering. Carruthers patented the ‘Image Converter’, which detects electromagnetic radiation in short wavelengths. In 1970, his invention recorded the first observation of molecular hydrogen in outer space. In 1972, he invented the first moon-based observatory, which was later used during the Apollo 16 missions. Carruthers received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2013.
Mary Mahoney, a native of Boston, is acknowledged as the first African-American woman to complete nurse’s training. She graduated from the nursing school at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1879. She was among the first African-American members of the American Nurses Association (ANA) and was a member of the inaugural class of the Nursing Hall of Fame, inducted in 1976. The Mary Elizabeth Mahoney Award has been bestowed by the ANA since 1952 to individuals who make significant contributions to integration within the nursing profession. (Source:http://bit.ly/2GCSW70)
Frank Greene was considered one of the first black technologists as he developed high-speed computer systems in the 1960s. He also founded the software companies Technology Development Corp. and ZeroOne Systems, Inc. "Success in life is not about 'me' but about what you can do to help others," he told the Palo Alto Weekly when he was honored as one of the 50 most important African-Americans in technology in an exhibit at Palo Alto City Hall. Greene also launched the GO-Positive Foundation, which offers leadership programs with "core positive values" for high school and college students.
Kimberly Bryant, Founder of BlackGirlsCode wants to ensure that young black girls have the opportunity to learn how to code. In 2011, Bryant founded the six-week program that teaches basic programming concepts, and gives underrepresented youths the chance to learn about robotics, and a wide range of other technological concepts. Before founding BlackGirlsCode, Bryant spent about decade in biotechnology where she held several management roles at companies including Genentech, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Merck. In 2011, Kimberly Bryant launched Black Girls Code, an organization devoted to teaching young girls of color computer coding and programming languages, such as Scratch and Ruby on Rails. Through classes and programs, Bryant and the rest of the Black Girls Code team hope to grow the number of black women in technology and give underprivileged girls better opportunities.
Dr. Alexa Canady: First African-American Female Neurosurgeon
In 1976, at age 26, Dr. Alexa Canady became the first Black female neurosurgeon in the United States when she was accepted as a resident at the University of Minnesota. In 1986, after four years at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Canady became chief of the hospital’s neurosurgery department. In 1993, she received the American Women’s Medical Association President’s Award. Canady’s research in neurosurgical techniques resulted in the invention of a programmable antisiphon shunt, which is used to treat excess fluid in the brain. She shares a U.S. patent for the device with two other neurosurgeons.
